Customer Reviews

Unfriendly Skies : Saga of Corruption

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is about federal corruption in airplane crashes and what happened to the author, when he tried to expose it. The author endured the loss of his considerable life savings, and the better part of a year in federal prison.

The book is long, entailed by it being a personal account, but is more readable and dramatic than an essay format.

What's interesting about the book is not so much its account of airliner crashes, or the incompetence that made them possible, or even the corruption within the Federal Aviation Administration. What will astound you is the book's detailed and documented account of the almost incredible corruption of the Justice Department that the author experienced first hand, the complete negation of the Bill of Rights.

While reading the book, it crossed my mind that the author was paranoid or a crank. But no, the writing has the ring of truth. You can always tell a crank. They are inarticulate, they have no evidence, they have or have had no careers. But here we have a man who had a distinguished career in aviation, and was an able businessman -- a man of repute. He has credentials, court records, and documents. Another reason to believe his account is that he would be sued for libel if even one tenth of his accusations weren't true.

When the book first arrived in the mail I thought: Hmm, pretty fat book, is it worth reading? So I leafed through it and saw the chapter with the intriguing title: "Prison!" Well, it looks like I'd bought a book by an ex-con. I read that chapter first, then went back and read the book from the beginning. Here are the most important chapters, you can read the others for supporting material: About the author (reverse of front cover), Introduction, Chapter 4 FAA Kangaroo Court, 6 Checks and Balances, 7 The Imposters, 20 Radio and Television Appearances, 21 to 27 (corruption in the federal judiciary), 29 Fighting Back, 30 Grim Outlook.

Some criticisms: The author appears to be an old-fashioned liberal. For example, he is for government regulation of the airline industry, even after what he discovered. He occasionally strays from his subject matter, dipping briefly into train safety and nuclear plant safety. He should have limited his writing to airline safety and then, with what he uncovered there as a springboard, corruption in the federal judiciary. The book has more than the usual number of typographical errors.

A reviewer, I am a retired airline captain, March 29, 2006,
A THOUGHT PREVOKING BOOK
Rodney Stitch knows what he is talking about.At times you will ponder ,can this be true? Believe me it is The government put Rodney in prison because he dared to reveal FAA s dirty little secrets. Good job

Also recommended: 93 SECONDS TO DISASTER

I have seen this book for years listed on Amazon and just recently purchased it. It is a scathing expose of many of our government agencies and takes to a higher meaning the satirical comment, "I'm from the government and I am here to help you," as one of the three biggest lies. The stonewalling that he encountered was, unfortunately, not overcome, despite his yeoman efforts to enhance commercial aviation safety. His perserverence is nearly off the scale and there should be airports named after him.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy is that during my 36 year career as a professional pilot I never once heard anyone mention his name or his book. It should have been discussed at every layover and any gathering of aviators. Was the book squelched? Probably. Anyone who reads the book will be awed at the courage and resilence of Rodney Stich.
My book, The Rogue Aviator:in the Back Alleys of Aviation, has an element of aviation expose in it but it is "kindergarten-level" compared to The Unfriendly Skies. As a retired pilot I still need an occassional adrenalin-zap fix and this book has kept me on the edge of my seat; an absolute must read for layman as well as pilots.
Allen Morris/aka Ace Abbott (The Rogue Aviator)

This is a hard hitting no holds barred expose. Mr. Stitch names organizations and people who allowed saftey measures to be ignored at the peril of passengers. It covers the 50's thru the late 90's.

This is a great example of:

EVIL OCCURS WHEN A GOOD MAN DOES NOTHING. Rodney Stitch wrote this book to get the word out to all of us....to inspire something to be done. If we had listened to him we would not have had this terrible tragedy on September 11, 2001. I would hope that the failure of our media invite him to talk about what can be done for air travel safety and security.